Candidate's
Personal Statement:
 

I have lived and taught in Santa Rosa for 36 years, 32 of those at Montgomery High School.  Both my children attended Santa Rosa City schools.  Teaching is my life's work.  I am intimately familiar with both the educational process and the needs of students.

Why is it important to support my election to the Board of Education?  

 1. Leadership requires bringing diverse people and their ideas together. Those professionals closest to the students, the teachers and the site administrators, often have very practical and workable ideas for educational reform.  The Board of Education must listen to them carefully and with perspective enact those practical changes necessary to facilitate and enhance student learning.  

 2. Limited resources must be spent wisely.  Miscalculations or ill-conceived actions by the Board can quickly become costly to our schools, while practical policy changes always produce benefits.  I will bring to the Board my perspective from direct classroom experience and a solid grasp of our students’ real educational priorities.

 3. Keep spending cuts away from the classroom.  All too often, funding reductions end up costing our students some of their educational resources.  My conviction is that administrative costs should never exceed 5 percent of any school district's budget.  Whenever the Santa Rosa School District does receive additional money from the state, it is our responsibility to see that as much as possible is immediately returned to those classrooms from which it was withheld.

 4. Establish and enforce clear standards for discipline.  Disruptive students require an immediate and appropriate disciplinary response.  A clearly stated discipline policy and staff review of administrative procedures will help establish consistency and ensure a positive learning environment for all.

 5. Ensure quality teaching.  Site administrators should regularly and thoroughly observe and evaluate teachers.  Teachers welcome multiple classroom visitations followed by discussion and critique in order to improve student learning.

 6. Support Vocational Education options.  Students should have the option to pursue a vocational training curriculum if desired.

 7. Support and actively seek increased funding for reduced class size.  Many secondary teachers have a teaching load in excess of 160 students a day.  Grades 4-6 teachers have class sizes of more than 30 students.  These numbers are far from ideal for both the students and teachers.  Simply reducing class size will significantly improve learning by enabling our teachers to give more individual attention to our most valuable resource – our children.

 8. Fund rising medical insurance costs.  Funding is needed for rising medical insurance costs for our employees.
 

As a Board member, I will work through the legislative process to increase local educational control, thus increasing local decision making power.  Our children are our greatest resource, and we need to ensure that they are given every opportunity to reach their full potential. 
 

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